1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for producing extruded elongate pasta of substantially even lengths. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for producing pasta capable of cutting elongate pasta such as spaghetti extruded from an extruder into substantially even lengths, discretely dividing it into a specific quantity, and variously adjusting cutting length thereof.
2. Disclosure of the Related Art
There are two methods conventionally known to produce extruded elongate pasta products such as spaghetti. One of the methods includes the step of extruding pasta dough directly from a die to form elongate pasta. The other includes the steps of extruding pasta dough from a special die to form pasta sheets and then cutting the sheets into appropriate widths to form elongate pasta. More concretely, the latter method includes the steps of: extruding pasta dough by a linearly-perforated die to form pasta sheet; cutting the sheet with blades to form elongate pasta; and cutting elongate pasta into a predetermined length with a cutter. This method has an advantage of producing a predetermined quantity of pasta at a high speed, so that it is excellent in mass-producing the predetermined quantity of pasta. The methods making use of this advantage are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 58-162230 (1983) and the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-34857 (1984).
In the above-cited methods, elongate pasta is produced by cutting pasta sheet with blades, and thus each elongate pasta is formed to have a rectangular section. Therefore, completely-circular-shaped elongate pasta can not be produced. Furthermore, the low extruding pressure to form pasta sheet may result in inferior quality and taste feeling of so produced pasta to that of elongate pasta produced by a direct extrusion method.
On the other hand, by using the method of producing elongate pasta by direct extrusion from a die (the direct extrusion method), high-quality dense pasta can be produced. Generally, in the direct extrusion method, elongate pasta is produced by the steps of; extruding pasta dough prepared by mixing a variety of materials from a die to form extruded elongate pasta each having a predetermined shape of cross-section; hanging the extruded elongate pasta from a pole; aligning the tips of the extruded elongate pasta by cutting them with a cutter; cutting the pasta strings into predetermined lengths and drying; and then weighing and packing the dried pasta products.
In this method, although the diameters of die holes of a single extruder are substantially constant, the extruding speed of elongate pasta from die holes varies. For example, as shown in FIG. 19(a), the substantial center portion of extruded elongate pasta 1 is extruded faster than the side portions in some cases, or as shown in FIG. 19(b), both side portions of extruded elongate pasta 1 are extruded faster in other cases. Extruding speed distribution of pasta varies depending upon performance characteristic of extruder and die, and characteristic of pasta dough. Therefore, speed distribution can not be held constant. For this reason, in the direct extrusion method, the lengths of extruded pasta are always uneven, so that the tips of pasta have to be cut to be aligned. Thus, it has been difficult to mass-produce elongate pasta by using this method.
Unlike the above-described method of producing dry pasta, in the case of producing fresh pasta and discretely dividing the pasta into a specific quantity for one meal, it is essential that equal quantities of pasta be distributed in the course of producing extruded elongate pasta. However, in the direct extrusion method, pasta dough cannot be extruded at a even speed from every die hole as mentioned above, so that the tips of pasta have to be cut to be aligned after extruded elongate pasta is divided into a specific quantity. Thus, it has been difficult to mass-produce a fresh elongate pasta divided in one meal.
Recently, there has been a great demand for extruded elongate pasta divided into a specific quantity produced by the direct extrusion method. However, there has been no practical method for mass-producing elongate pasta by the direct extrusion method and dividing it into predetermined quantities.